Travel Bug Abuse

A recent check of a cacher's profile showed him to be holding 10 Travel Bugs, some of which have been in his possession for several weeks. When TBs are held like this they have effectively been removed from circulation denying other cachers of the thrill of finding and moving them and denying the owner the thrill of watching their movement. Does anyone else feel the same way as I do about this?

There are lots of reasons that the cacher hasn't rehidden the travelbugs. They could range from a lack of understanding as to what bugs are and what to do with them to unforseen "real life" circumstances.

Travelbugs are sometimes confusing but I doubt if the person has 10 of them in their inventory that they're that lost...

However, they could have picked up several TB's in preperation for a trip, they could be on the trip and haven't had a chance to log the TB's (of course this could be checked with the 'last login' date on their profile) or some real emergency has stopped them from geocaching recently so they're stuck with the bugs.

I try to NOT pick up travelbugs because I don't know when the next time I'll get to go geocaching is. I've been stuck with leftover bugs at the last few events, I have 2 from an event in May I simply forgot to carry them with me the last time I went geocaching and it doesn't look like I'll get to go geocaching anytime soon. I've also had bad luck with the TB's I've owned so I don't really like them. They're not tremendously popular over here in MS either, so I don't see them too much.

If one of the travelbugs is yours and you're concernced - just drop a friendly email to the cacher to find out what's going on

I guess someone holding travelbugs is better than not knowing thier location. I have been watching Poor Boys Stash (http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_de ... 1b7e003310) for a while. The cache page shows seven travel bugs. However the logs indicate that only one is in the cache. Unfortunately now it seems that the whole cache is missing I think some cachers pick them up and then don't log them. It is a little confusing on the web site to log them in and drop them off.

I have two TBs in my possession that I picked in Florida last week. The weather has not been cooperative so I not dropped them anywhere yet. I also want to put them in a popular cache so they can travel more quickly.

So how long do YOU think a cacher should hold a travel bug thats not owned by them?

Are there circumstances that justify holding them longer?

How about some of you lurkers wading in on this subject with your opinion? Please lets try to keep it nice as a discussion where everyone has a right to his/her own ideas....poppy

BTW Geazer I did not mean to hijack your thread. I just read it and wondered what others thought.

May those who love us, love us. And those that don't love us, may God turn their hearts; and if he doesn't turn their hearts may he turn their ankle so we may know them by their limp.... An Old Gaelic Blessing

This subject has been discussed many times in the Groundspeak forums. I feel that the only reason anyone should ever have more than a few travel bugs at a time is if they are going on vacation or are a regular cacher that moves them around in a timely manner. As far as the time goes on how long one should keep a travel bug, there are many different views on that. I believe we should pass them along as soon as possible so that others will have more of a chance to find them. Some of the nicer travel bugs with really good goals should probably be taken around for a while to achieve their goals and then plenty of information should be logged when placing them. To me one of the best parts of geocaching is reading about everyones experiences. Some of the best stories I have read have been in the logs for the travel bugs. On the subject of a cacher who does not get out and cache very often then I don't think they should take them. Everyone will have their different views on all of this but the travel bugs shuld be moved along quickly to cover more ground and give more cachers the ability to find them.

We have strong feelings about the travel bugs. We've "lost" several of them and have turned one into a "virtual" tb. We find it very infuriating when they're not logged out of a cache and just disappear!

We received 4 tb's two weeks ago (given to us by the owner to place in Arkansas) and have placed 2 of them. The other two are driving us nuts until we get them placed. We like to get them out within two weeks if at all possible. If it's going to be any longer than that we email the owner of the tb to let them know what's going on with their bug. If we have a special cache or special trip planned we'll ask the owner if they have any problem with us keeping it a while longer.

As in most everything else, I think "communication" is the answer. TB owners won't get frustrated if they know that you're aware of their bugs goals and haven't "forgotten" that you have it.

As for someone deliberately holding onto multiple bugs for any length of time - we think it's a definate "no-no"!

"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."

I try to keep them moving as much as possible. I pick them up every chance I get because I would like people to do the same for mine. I have several that have either sat in someone's hands for months or ended up in TB prisons for a long time. Both scenerios can be annoying but they usually move eventually.

We've committed some TB "sins" ourselves. Since we are not what I would call prolific or hardcore cachers, we have learned that we probably should not take a TB unless we are heading directly for its destination. Even then, we've held a couple of bugs for over a month.

If you are concerned about a particular TB, a friendly inquiry to the holder is probably the best bet. There may be a legitimate reason for them not moving the bugs along. Or, as someone else said, they simply may not place enough importance on TBs to feel that it's necessary. If it were one of our TBs, we would wait a month or two before sending an email. Beyond that, I don't know that we would or COULD do anything else...

I think I'm going to stop picking up travel bugs for awhile as well. The last couple I have had, I've had a hard time getting rid of for various reasons. The one I've currently got, I've had for waaay too long (sorry Bio-X). It seems like every cache I have done recently has been a micro cache. The regular size ones I have went after have ended up being missing.